Reese Arrowsmith, Head of Legal Operations at Campbell Soup Company, lays down (among other things) a great summary of the evolution of the legal ops function from its early beginnings in late 1990s to now.

In his words:

"According to the ACC Chief Legal Officers 2016 Survey, the percentage of GCs/CLOs reporting legal operations staff more than doubled between 2015 and 2016, reaching 48 percent last year."